Harlequinmania

Click through to see the images. EPA Launches Caribbean Coral Reef Protection Group; Inter-Agency Group to Host Public Listening Session on St. Thomas on February 25 at 1:00pm (New York, N.Y.) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced that it has formed an inter-agency effort to protect coral reefs off the shores of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Caribbean Coral Reef Protection Group, which will consist of the EPA and other government agencies, will coordinate efforts to protect coral reefs. This will ensure that resources are used wisely and work from one agency complements the work of another. “The coral reefs of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are renowned for their beauty, and their ecological and economic value,” said EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck. “Unfortunately, these treasures are being destroyed. By working with our fellow governmental agencies, the EPA will help make sure coral reefs continue to contribute to the region’s economy and ecology for generations to come.” Coral reef ecosystems throughout the Caribbean are being damaged by a growing number of problems such as overfishing, sediment runoff, pollution, disease and climate change, which causes the water to become warmer and more acidic. By implementing measures to reduce those stresses that can be controlled locally, coral health can be improved and reefs can become more resilient. The Caribbean Coral Reef Protection Group, led by EPA Region 2, will facilitate a closer working relationship among its member agencies to coordinate more effective government strategies in protecting coral reefs. On February 25th, the Caribbean Coral Reef Protection Group will be hosting a public “listening session” in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Representatives from the EPA and the Coral Reef Protection Group’s other member agencies will be in attendance to hear the discussions and concerns of community groups and citizens regarding the state of coral reefs throughout Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Details of the meeting, which is open to the public, will be announced in February. In addition to the EPA, the Caribbean Coral Reef Protection Group includes the following governmental agencies: The Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources, the Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board, the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Coral Reef Conservation Program, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey. To sign up to speak at the February 25 listening session, or for more info, contact Charles LoBue at (212) 637-3798 or lobue.charles@epa.gov. Follow EPA Region 2 on Twitter at http://twitter.com/eparegion2 and visit our Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/eparegion2 View the full article

Click through to see the images. Few examples of symbiosis in the whole natural world show such a wonderful balance between giving and receiving like the mutual relationship existing between Shrimp-Gobies and their fellows Alpheid Shrimps. Shrimp-Gobies are little fish widespread along tropical and sub-tropical seas worldwide, especially in sandy or rubble areas, where they share their 'house' (a burrow) with small prawns, commonly called snapping-shrimps. Fig. 1-1b: The Broad-Banded Shrimp-Goby Amblyeleotris periophthalma is quite common in some areas of Tropical Indo-Pacific. He likes muddy or sandy lagoons or shallow reefs, and he's easily distinguishable by the large brown bands along the body and the red spot below the head. He can live with different species of Shrimps, in this case he share his burrow with Alpheus ochrostriatus. It is quite common to observe these gobies watching the burrow entrance, in strict physical contact with the shrimp's antenna, while he approaches the surface to eliminate the material excavated from the burrow. Shrimp's eyes, used to the burrow's darkness, are almost blind out of the hole and the he could be a too-easy prey without the protection and the continuous surveillance of the goby. On the other hand, the goby is not able to dig a hole by itself, and if a burrow not well maintained would collapse in a very short time. When a danger approaches, the goby first signals it to the shrimp by flippering the caudal fin. If the danger gets worst, the goby turns rapidly escaping inside the burrow. Fig. 2: A Gold-barred Shrimp Goby Amblyeleotris randalli displays his wonderful dorsal fin and eyespot. This feature can make a predator thinking that the fish is bigger of how he really is. Fig. 3-3b: A Flag-Tail Shrimp-Goby Amblyeleotris yanoi sharing his burrow with the colorful shrimp Alpheus randalli. This is an example of obligate relationship: this goby share his burrow only with this species of shrimp. It has been quite a debate if we should consider the goby just like a "watchman" for the shrimp, or on the contrary the shrimp is barely a housekeeper for the goby. The truth is that both of them have built a very complex and stable relationship, where right and duties of the pair are well established and balanced: even if sometimes it's possible to observe a shrimp without his goby (or vice versa, that's it is called "facultative association", at least in some species), it's normally a temporary situation. The couple pairing is necessary for the survival of both, as life is hard alone. Natural enemies like Lizardfish, Jackfish, Sandperches and some other predators like snake eels have been observed sometimes successfully hunting Shrimp-Gobies. It's a chicken-and-egg debate if is the goby first to find the shrimp, or the shrimp that finds the goby: the only sure thing is that they use different methods. Apparently gobies find their partners mainly using their visual ability, while chemical signals seem to have a prevalent role from the shrimp's point of view: it seems reasonable considering the poor visual ability of the little crustacean. This relationship can begin shortly after the goby settles from planktonic life, when the little fish is almost 1 cm long. When the sexual maturity is reached, normally a pair male-female of gobies shares the same burrow together with a pair of shrimps. Fig. 4: A Black-Rayed Shrimp-goby Stonogobiops nematodes hovering out of his burrow where a shrimp Alpheus randalli keeps removing sand. Species belonging to the genus Stonogobiops have a swim bladder, feature not very common in the Gobiidae family. Fig. 5-5b: Not every Shrimp-Goby shows nice colors: this Black-Nape Shrimp-goby Cryptocentrus inexplicatus's color pattern makes a perfect camouflage with the sandy bottom. On the contrary, his fellow shrimp Alpheus sp. displays a wonderful color especially on his legs. Fig. 6: Quite often the same burrow is inhabited by pairs of Gobies and/or Shimps. In this case a pair of Alpheus ochrostriatus share the burrow with Broad-Banded Shrimp-Goby Amblyeleotris periophthalma. It's almost impossible to distinguish the sex of the shrimps without bringing them out of the water, anyway sometimes even male-male or female-female pairs have been observed. Fig. 6b: Quite often the same burrow is inhabited by pairs of Gobies and/or Shimps. In this case a pair of Alpheus randalli share the burrow with a Flag-Tail Shrimp-Goby Amblyeleotris yanoi. It's almost impossible to distinguish the sex of the shrimps without bringing them out of the water, anyway sometimes even male-male or female-female pairs have been observed. When the pair it's formed, the process of building the burrow starts and, depending on the substrate and on the species of shrimp, could be short and branching, or long and deep, as it has been observed sometimes in some aquariums where the shrimp decided to build his house nearby to the glass. The activity of the pair during the day is quite intense: the shrimp keep removing material from the burrow, enlarging the house and looking for food. The goby, aside from his watchman duties, is busy in catching his food (mainly zooplankton). Most gobies just lay down on the sand waiting, while some others hover on the top of the hole. The pair activity normally is reduced in the late afternoon, and in some cases during the night the shrimp closes the burrow entrance as a further protection against night predators. Watchman Goby More than 130 different goby species belonging to almost 20 genera are officially already described, but probably many other are still waiting to be discovered, especially in the Coral Triangle area (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines an Papua New Guinea). The symbiosis has been observed with up to 30 different species of pistol-shrimps, mainly of the genus Alpheus. Fig. 7: smart engineers, this Steinitzi Shrimp-Goby Amblyeleotris steinitzi and his little shrimp Alpheus sp. have a reinforced entry, equipped with stones and pieces of coral that avoid the burrow entry's collapse. Fig. 8: many species of Shrimp-Gobies have not been yet described officially, like this Vanderhorstia sp. photographed in Tulamben (Bali, Indonesia) Fig. 8b: many species of Shrimp-Gobies have not been yet described officially, like this Cryptocentrus sp. photographed in Bunaken (North Sulawesi, Indonesia) Fig. 8c: many species of Shrimp-Gobies have not been yet described officially, like this Flag-Fin Shrimp-Goby Tomiyamichthyis sp. photographed in Tulamben (Bali, Indonesia) The genus Amblyeleotris includes almost 40 different species, usually are the largest Shrimp-Gobies in the wild, growing up to 20 cm length in the bigger species, and with more fin rays than other genera. Even Cryptocentrus is a successful genus and it's distinguishable for the bigger head and some other anatomical features. Ctenogobiops and Vanderhorstia are quite diffused all around tropical Indo-Pacific waters, but few species have been official described until now. One genus particularly loved by aquarists, Stonogobiops, includes few species all with swim bladder that allows them to hover motionless few centimeters on the top of the burrow entrance. Shrimpgobies in the wild feed on zooplankton mainly. Quite often a couple of gobies inhabits the same burrow, where the female lays the eggs. They are territorial fish even if the territory is not very large and in the same area it's possible to find several couples. They are not very good swimmer of course, but can be very fast. House-maid Shrimp All the shrimps living in association with a goby belong to the Alpheidae family (genera Alpheus or Synalpheus). They are even called "Snapping Shrimps" or "Pistol Shrimps" for their ability to produce a loud snapping sound using their larger claw. Even if they are so small, they are one of the major sources of underwater noise. Fig. 9: the genus Vanderhorstia is relatively new and many species has been discovered in recent years. This Twin-Spotted Shrimp-Goby Vanderhorstia ambanoro inhabits sandy areas of Tropical Indo-Pacific. Fig. 10: the rare Mottled Shrimp-Goby Tomiyamichtys oni with the common generalist shrimp Alpheus randalli. The production of this noise is one of the most amazing performances of the animal world: by snapping their claw they produce a small cavitation bubble that moves approximately 100 km/h generating a huge acoustic pressure. This bubble, producing almost 220 decibels, can also kill small fish or other animals and preys. A human eardrum ruptures a 150, just to give an idea of the power. And, unique case in the animal world, the bubble produces a small luminescence (not visible to the naked eye), called "sonoluminescence", provoked by the bubble's superficial temperature. Due the importance of the bigger claw in a snapping shrimp's life, in the case they lost it, the second claw grows to replace the lose one, and the missing limb will regenerate in a smaller claw. This amazing phenomenon is called "claw symmetry" and it has been documented only once in nature. Snapping shrimps are socially monogamous and territorial, with females performing all parental care. Anyway, male and female partners share other duties like territorial defense, burrow construction, and foraging duties by returning food to the burrow, where both partners consume it. Biography Francesco Ricciardi is a PhD in Marine Biology, with specialization on the impact of pollution on marine life, aquatic biodiversity and marine tropical ecology, including some studies on symbiosis ecology. Underwater Photographer and Scuba Instructor since more than 10 years, he's actually located in the island of Bali (Indonesia). View the full article

The " live" rock is call live for a reason when u dip into the freshwater and dry Over few day it must have been become dead rock by now which turn white. After awhile your coraline algae will come back Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

What brand of test kit are you using? Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

Click through to see the images. WASHINGTON, Jan. 8, 2013 — The nighttime twinkling of fireflies has inspired scientists to modify a light-emitting diode (LED) so it is more than one and a half times as efficient as the original. Researchers from Belgium, France, and Canada studied the internal structure of firefly lanterns, the organs on the bioluminescent insects’ abdomens that flash to attract mates. The scientists identified an unexpected pattern of jagged scales that enhanced the lanterns’ glow, and applied that knowledge to LED design to create an LED overlayer that mimicked the natural structure. The overlayer, which increased LED light extraction by up to 55 percent, could be easily tailored to existing diode designs to help humans light up the night while using less energy. The work is published in a pair of papers today in the Optical Society’s (OSA) open-access journal Optics Express. “The most important aspect of this work is that it shows how much we can learn by carefully observing nature,” says Annick Bay, a Ph.D. student at the University of Namur in Belgium who studies natural photonic structures, including beetle scales and butterfly wings. When her advisor, Jean Pol Vigneron, visited Central America to conduct field work on the Panamanian tortoise beetle (Charidotella egregia), he also noticed clouds of twinkling fireflies and brought some specimens back to the lab to examine in more detail. Fireflies create light through a chemical reaction that takes place in specialized cells called photocytes. The light is emitted through a part of the insect’s exoskeleton called the cuticle. Light travels through the cuticle more slowly than it travels through air, and the mismatch means a proportion of the light is reflected back into the lantern, dimming the glow. The unique surface geometry of some fireflies’ cuticles, however, can help minimize internal reflections, meaning more light escapes to reach the eyes of potential firefly suitors. In Optics Express papers, Bay, Vigneron, and colleagues first describe the intricate structures they saw when they examined firefly lanterns and then present how the same features could enhance LED design. Using scanning electron microscopes, the researchers identified structures such as nanoscale ribs and larger, misfit scales, on the fireflies’ cuticles. When the researchers used computer simulations to model how the structures affected light transmission they found that the sharp edges of the jagged, misfit scales let out the most light. The finding was confirmed experimentally when the researchers observed the edges glowing the brightest when the cuticle was illuminated from below. “We refer to the edge structures as having a factory roof shape,” says Bay. “The tips of the scales protrude and have a tilted slope, like a factory roof.” The protrusions repeat approximately every 10 micrometers, with a height of approximately 3 micrometers. “In the beginning we thought smaller nanoscale structures would be most important, but surprisingly in the end we found the structure that was the most effective in improving light extraction was this big-scale structure,” says Bay. Fireflies may help design better LEDs Human-made light-emitting devices like LEDs face the same internal reflection problems as fireflies’ lanterns and Bay and her colleagues thought a factory roof-shaped coating could make LEDs brighter. In the second Optics Express paper published today, which is included in the Energy Express section of the journal, the researchers describe the method they used to create a jagged overlayer on top of a standard gallium nitride LED. Nicolas André, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Sherbrooke in Canada, deposited a layer of light-sensitive material on top of the LEDs and then exposed sections with a laser to create the triangular factory-roof profile. Since the LEDs were made from a material that slowed light even more than the fireflies’ cuticle, the scientists adjusted the dimensions of the protrusions to a height and width of 5 micrometers to maximize the light extraction. “What’s nice about our technique is that it’s an easy process and we don’t have to create new LEDs,” says Bay. “With a few more steps we can coat and laser pattern an existing LED.” Other research groups have studied the photonic structures in firefly lanterns as well, and have even mimicked some of the structures to enhance light extraction in LEDs, but their work focused on nanoscale features. The Belgium-led team is the first to identify micrometer-scale photonic features, which are larger than the wavelength of visible light, but which surprisingly improved light extraction better than the smaller nanoscale features. The factory roof coating that the researchers tested increased light extraction by more than 50 percent, a significantly higher percentage than other biomimicry approaches have achieved to date. The researchers speculate that, with achievable modifications to current manufacturing techniques, it should be possible to apply these novel design enhancements to current LED production within the next few years. The firefly specimens that served as the inspiration for the effective new LED coating came from the genus Photuris, which is commonly found in Latin America and the United States. Bay says she has also examined the lanterns of a particularly hardy species of firefly found on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe that did not have the factory roof structure on the outer layer. She notes that she and her colleagues will continue to explore the great diversity of the natural world, searching for new sources of knowledge and inspiration. “The Photuris fireflies are very effective light emitters, but I am quite sure that there are other species that are even more effective,” says Bay. “This work is not over.” Papers: “Improved light extraction in the bioluminescent lantern of a Photuris firefly (Lampyridae),” Optics Express, Vol. 21, Issue 1, pp. 764-780 (2013). “An optimal light-extracting overlayer, inspired by the lantern of a Photuris firefly, to improve the external efficiency of existing light-emitting diode,” Optics Express, Vol. 21 Issue S1, pp. A179-A189 (2013). [Press Release The Optical Society] View the full article

Why not start by posting your drawing plan for your new tank, sump design, equipments list ect and what you want to keep so that we can give you some advice if any ?

A good blog site will be reefbuilders or you can install tapatalk or forum runner on your phone so that it make browsing and reading of our forum here so much easier.

Hi Linko, sorry if i overlook your name, i have added you in the PM List of the collection venue.. Please check your PM

Click through to see the images. Aquarius is a fully submerged laboratory with 400 square feet of living and research quarters; It is located 62 feet (20 meters) below sea level at the base of a coral reef within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Aquarius is the only underwater research facility in operation and has produced valuable data that only such an unique facility could provide. However, you can imagine the cost of operations for a laboratory on the sea floor is not cheap. Its base operational cost is $1.5 USD million per year, increasing up to $3 million depending on research project(s). Since taking over operations in 1991, The University of North Carolina Wilmington has struggled to secure sufficient funding. Due to federal budget cuts in 2013 and consequently funding by NOAA, UNCW was unable to renew operations, meaning the closure of Aquarius. In the eleventh hour (past the stroke of midnight is a better analogy), Florida International University submitted a proposal to resume operations at Aquarius. FIU has already received verbal approval, and it looks good that Aquarius will continue operations under new management. [via Star News] View the full article

Click through to see the images. Published this week in the journal Proceedings of the Royal B, researchers are finding out more about how corals calcify both during the day and during the night and what alkalinity components are preferred. In their paper titled "Coral reef calcifiers buffer their response to ocean acidification using both bicarbonate and carbonate," researchers Comeau, Carpenter and Edmunds measured how a certain coral adds calcium carbonate to its skeleton both during the day and during the night. Most models assume that corals utilize strictly the carbonate anion when building its skeleton. However, alkalinity has another major component to it: the bicarbonate ion. Could certain corals predominantly use the bicarbonate anion instead or at least be able to switch between the two? That was what their research was intended to find out. What Comeau and other did was take specimens of a coral, Porites rus, and the alga Hydrolithon onkodes collected from French Polynesia, and subject them to various conditions in a closed aquarium system. They varied the dissolved carbon dioxide levels and made the water either more acidic or basic and monitored how the coral and alga utilized both carbonate and bicarbonate alkalinity to build its structure. For H. onkodes, Comeau found it utilized both carbonate and bicarbonate for building its structure but was much more sensitive to ion concentrations with carbonate the most significant ion. For P.rus, the researchers found that during the night it utilized strictly the carbonate anion. However, during the day it utilized both the carbonate and bicarbonate anions to build its skeleton. "Our results show that the negative effect of declining carbonate on the calcification of corals and algae can be partly mitigated by the use of bicarbonate for calcification and perhaps photosynthesis." The results of their research may explain why certain corals have shown resistance to ocean acidification. More research, however, is needed to better understand how other corals utilize carbonate and bicarbonate alkalinity throughout the day and whether or not temperature plays a role in carbonate vs. bicarbonate usage. View the full article

Click through to see the images. As reported by Reefbuilders earlier this month, the Galaxy Clarki Clownfish was developed by Bali Aquarich (Indonesia). And now they're stateside through commercial ornamentals farmer and wholesaler Segrest Farms (Florida, USA). View the full article

Click through to see the images. As reported by Reefbuilders earlier this month, the Galaxy Clarki Clownfish was developed by Bali Aquarich (Indonesia). And now they're stateside through Segrest Farms (Florida, USA). View the full article

Click through to see the images. As reported by Reefbuilders earlier this month, the Galaxy Clarki Clownfish was developed by Bali Aquarich (Indonesia). And now they're stateside through Segrest Farms (Florida, USA). View the full article

Click through to see the images. Using motion sensors, sound equipment, and an aquarium full of goldfish, artist Henry Chu created what he calls a Fish Harp. The Fish Harp is comprised of an aquarium filled with goldfish with a sheet of clear glass covering the top. A variety of different glasses filled to various levels of liquid sit on top of the glass sheet. Above each glass is a motion sensor that senses when a fish swims underneath it. When the motion sensor registers motion under a given glass (i.e. a fish swam underneath it), it triggers the sound system to play a given wine glass note. Sit back and enjoy: View the full article

Click through to see the images. The giant aquarium (of unspecified size) was installed two years ago at Dongfang shopping mall and housed several sharks and sea turtles along with smaller marine fish. On the night of December 18, 2012, the aquarium suddenly failed, sending large shattered fragments of 10 inch thick glass at shoppers passing by. Fifteen people were injured, and unfortunately the sharks and sea turtles did not survive. Visit Daily Mail to view more photos and descriptions of the disaster. The aquarium was a popular attraction at the shopping mall. In addition to the human injuries and marine life casualties, the blow-out also caused massive destruction to the shopping mall. View the full article

Click through to see the images. The Ecotech XR30w Pro employs 42 LEDs (eight different colors controlled on six channels) to deliver 155 peak watts of fully adjustable LED light — Ecotech's most powerful LED unit yet. The addition of UV, Indigo, and Yellow LEDs provides both a broader spectral range (405nm to 660nm) and more spectral customization. Information about upgrade paths for existing XR30w owners will be announced in the near future. Visit EcoTech Marine’s Radion XR30w Pro webpage to learn more about this new LED light. Here is a quick rundown of its specs: Specifications Model – Radion XR30w Pro LEDs • White: 8 Cree XT-E Cool White (5w each) • Red: 4 Osram Oslon SSL Hyper Red, 660nm (3w each) • Yellow: 2 Osram Oslon SSL Yellow, 590nm (3w each) • Green: 4 Cree XP-E Green, 520nm (3w each) • Blue: 8 Cree XP-E Blue, 468nm (3w each) • Royal Blue: 8 Cree XT-E Royal Blue, 442nm (5w each) • Indigo: 4 SemiLEDs UV, 415nm (2.5w each) • Ultraviolet: 4 SemiLEDs UV, 405nm (2.5w each) *All wavelengths are the peak emitted wavelength of the LED. Dimensions Length: 11.8 inches (30 cm) Width: 7 inches (18 cm) Thickness: 1.5 inches (3.9 cm) Wattage Max Wattage of Radion Fixture: 170 Watts Max Wattage of LED Channels: 155 Watts View the full article

Click through to see the images. Would you like to see Aquanaut's aquarium featured in an upcoming Advanced Aquarist Feature Aquarium article? So would we! We'll see what we can do to make it happen. In the meanwhile, enjoy this five minute "test video" of Aquanaut's spectacular "250DD" (250 gallon deep dimension) peninsula aquarium. It's okay to gawk. Caution: Video may induce uncontrollable drooling. " height="383" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640"> "> "> View the full article

Click through to see the images. Would you like to see Aquanaut's aquarium featured in an upcoming Advanced Aquarist Feature Aquarium article? So would we! We'll see what we can do to make it happen. In the meanwhile, enjoy this five minute "test video" of Aquanaut's spectacular "250DD" (250 gallon deep dimension) peninsula aquarium. It's okay to gawk. Caution: Video may induce uncontrollable drooling. " height="383" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640"> "> "> View the full article

Click through to see the images. Press Release BUFFALO, N.Y. — Coral colonies that suffered tissue damage in The Bahamas were still producing low numbers of eggs four years after the injuries occurred, according to new research by University at Buffalo scientists. Tiny sperm-producing factories called spermaries were also in short supply. The slow recovery was a surprise, said UB geology professor Howard Lasker, PhD, who led the study on the coral species Antillogorgia elisabethae. “The really interesting finding was that four years later, these colonies were still displaying an effect,” Lasker said. “They don’t necessarily look damaged anymore, but it takes some time to get back to where they were in terms of reproduction.” “This research has broader repercussions,” Lasker said. “When you start talking about damage to reefs from events like hurricanes, you might say that the coral survived, that it lost some tissue, but it’s still reproducing. That’s true, but we now know the corals are not quite as healthy as we thought.” The study appeared Dec. 1 in the Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. Lasker’s co-author was Christopher Page, a master’s student in UB’s Graduate Program in Evolution, Ecology and Behavior. Page, who has since graduated, is a biologist at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida. The species that the researchers examined — A. elisabethae, formerly known as Pseudopterogorgia elisabethae — is a Caribbean gorgonian coral. The coral forms male and female colonies and, during reproduction, the females release eggs which remain on the colony’s surface to be fertilized and develop into larvae. Antillogorgia elisabethae colony in The Bahamas. To study the effect of tissue damage on sexual activity, Lasker and Page looked at egg and sperm production in A. elisabethae colonies near Cross Harbour, Abaco in The Bahamas. In this region, workers harvest the coral, pruning branches from large, sexually mature colonies to obtain an anti-inflammatory chemical used in skin care products. Such harvests took place in 2002 and 2005. In 2009, Lasker and Page returned to the area before the annual spawning, which for A. elisabethae occurs in November and December. The researchers compared 24 colonies that had been cropped to 20 that had not, carefully dissecting 24 individual coral polyps from each of the 44 colonies to count the reproductive organs within. What they found: In cropped female colonies, roughly one in three polyps carried no eggs at all, compared with roughly one in six in uncropped colonies. The uncropped colonies also had more than double the number of polyps producing three or more eggs — 120 polyps in all, compared with just 53 polyps in the cropped colonies. More than three quarters of polyps in uncropped male colonies housed 11 or more spermaries, organs that produce sperm. In contrast, less than 60 percent of polyps in cropped colonies had 11 or more spermaries. In most corals, sexual maturity is understood to be a product of colony size, as opposed to age. As a general rule, large corals reproduce. Small ones don’t. The new research is the latest to support the notion that damaged corals may have lower fecundity because they divert resources away from reproduction and toward growth and injury repair, Lasker said. “The mechanism controlling resource allocation is unknown, but regardless of the process the important implication of the finding is that populations that appear to have survived and to have recovered from disturbance events may produce fewer gametes than the size and number of colonies would suggest,” Page and Lasker wrote in their study. The researchers added that it’s still unknown how changes in egg and spermary production impact long-term population growth. The National Science Foundation and Mark Diamond Research Fund of the UB Graduate Student Association supported the study, which is titled, “Effects of tissue loss, age and size on fecundity in the octocoral Pseudopterogorgia elisabethae.” (via University of Buffalo) View the full article

Click through to see the images. Yesterday, the Marine Breeding Initiative announced that fish breeding pioneer Martin Moe will speak at the upcoming Marine Breeder's Workshop, which is tentatively scheduled for July 13, 2013 at the Cranbrook Institute of Science in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. For readers of our magazine, Marin Moe is no stranger. He has penned articles ranging from spawning the Atlantic Jewelfish and neon goby in addition to culturing ciliates and reviewing fish spawning modes and also fish biology. He has also published numerous books including the Marine Aquarium Handbook: Beginner to Breeder, The Marine Aquarium Reference: Systems and Invertebrates, and Breeding the Orchid Dottyback, Pseudochromis Fridmani: An Aquarist's Journal. Watch the Marine Breeder's Workshop site for more information and tickets as the time draws near. This is one you will not want to miss. View the full article

Click through to see the images. Caught Wet-handed On July 9, 2012, Clark poached the 13lb 13oz fish from the public aquarium and entered the fish into the Bailiwick Bass Club competition to claim the top prize of £800 (~$1300 USD). Authorities matched the distinctive scars on the bass to confirm that winning fish was also the same fish that was reported missing earlier the same day. The bass also exhibited no hook damage, which raised eyebrows at the fishing competition. Earlier this year, Clark pled guilty to false representation. Last week, he admitted to the piscine theft and is now awaiting sentencing. Stupid criminals make for great (big fish) tales. View the full article

Click through to see the images. Caught Wet-handed On July 9, 2012, Clark poached the 13lb 13oz fish from the public aquarium and entered the fish into the Bailiwick Bass Club competition to claim the top prize of £800 (~$1300 USD). Authorities matched the distinctive scars on the bass to confirm that winning fish was also the same fish that was reported missing earlier the same day. The bass also exhibited no hook damage, which raised eyebrows at the fishing competition. Earlier this year, Clark pled guilty to false representation. Last week, he admitted to the piscine theft and is now awaiting sentencing. Stupid criminals make for great (big fish) tales. View the full article

Click through to see the images. Instead of recapping the short article, here is the link to the whole piece. If for no other reason, scroll to the bottom of the article for a lot of photos of Coral Morphologic's impressive facility and corals. It's safe to say many of us envy what Colin and Jared do for a living: marrying the science and art of live corals in order to enhance the public's understanding and appreciation of these underwater neon wonders. Visit Coral Morphlogic's website for more information about their works. View the full article

Click through to see the images. Instead of recapping the short article, here is the link to the whole piece. If for no other reason, scroll to the bottom of the article for a lot of photos of Coral Morphologic's impressive facility and corals. It's safe to say many of us envy what Colin and Jared do for a living: marrying the science and art of live corals in order to enhance the public's understanding and appreciation of these underwater neon wonders. Visit Coral Morphlogic's website for more information about their works. View the full article

Click through to see the images. From ORA: " height="383" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640"> "> "> It is rare to find an entire genera of reef fishes extremely well-suited to live in an aquarium, but Devilfish (Assessor spp.) make great aquarium residents for several reasons. Their maximum length of 3 to 4” makes them suitable for most sizes of aquariums. They aren’t overly aggressive with other species or conspecifics and can be kept singly or in groups. Assessors frequently exhibit a unique and rather humorous upside-down swimming behavior. Finally they are easy to keep since they easily adapt to various commercial and prepared diets. Here at ORA we have been raising Yellow Assessors (Assessor flavissimus) and Blue Assessors (A. macneilli) for nearly a decade. With the help of our friend Koji Wada at Blue Harbor in Japan we recently acquired a new species to the US trade, A. randalli. At first glance, a Randall’s assessor could be confused with a Blue Assessor, however Randall’s assessors are more likely to exhibit upside-down swimming behavior and their color scheme is more elaborate. The majority of their body is blue with the interior of each scale containing a rusty red dot. The head region is green-blue and their fins contain rays of green, red and orange. These subtle colors are best observed when keeping a small group of them in a reef tank with other boisterous but unaggressive species. We recently had our first small batch of Randall’s assessors go through metamorphosis and now we are working on building up numbers of this unique fish. Fortunately Randalls assessors are nest spawners, similar to Yellow Assessors rather than mouth brooders like the Blue Assessor. This leads to large nest sizes and we expect this will lead to steady availability with the first fish reaching the market in early 2013. We are excited to share some short video clips of some of our eldest F1 individuals. They begin to look and act like miniature assessors shortly after metamorphosis. Thanks to Kevin Kohen for letting us use his Randall’s Assessor photo. View the full article